Shaw
Students Participate in Democracy Day

September 13, 2013 – Students from
Shaw and St. Augustine's universities in Raleigh delivered hundreds of voter
registrations to Wake County elections officials Friday to qualify students for
the local elections next month.

Friday was
the deadline to register to vote in the Oct. 8 election, which features school
construction and transportation bond referendums in Wake County, as well as
races for four Board of Education seats and Raleigh mayor and City Council
seats.

About 700
freshmen and transfer students at Shaw and St. Augustine's registered during
the two-week voter drive, which amounts to about 90 percent of the freshman
class at St. Augustine's and 50 percent at Shaw.

Robert
Gray, a junior at St. Augustine's, said the voter drive was designed to
increase awareness.

"I
hope to get a lot of people politically engaged, politically aware of what's
going on – how politics affects where you stay, what you eat, the type of
education you receive, the money you make," Gray said. "I really hope
to get the word out."

Students
are upset about sweeping changes to North Carolina election laws passed by the
General Assembly this summer, he said, adding that they need to channel that
anger toward involvement in campaigns and getting people to the polls.

A new
state law requires voters to present photo identification at the polls starting
in 2016, eliminates same-day registration and ends early registration for 16-
and 17-year-olds. It also calls for changes to campaign finance and advertising
regulations.

Durham,
Chapel Hill and Fayetteville will hold primary elections on Oct. 8, with
mayoral candidates on the ballot in all three cities.

This story was written by Laura Leslie and
originally appeared on WRAL.com on Friday, September 13, 2013.